Should it be compulsory to wear a poppy?

YES, says Paul Callan, Social commentator.

WEARING a small paper poppy in the week-long run-up to Remembrance Sunday is a vital part of our national ritual of respect for the valiant men and women who died in the horrors of two world wars.

And not just those global conflicts. It is also a reminder of other wars – Korea, Iraq, the Falklands and now the murderous hills and valleys of Afghanistan. There are also those young servicemen slain closer to home on the lethal streets of Belfast.

Nor should the wearing of the poppy (an emblem inspired by the fragile flowers that blossomed on the battle fields of Belgium and France) be limited to ordinary Britons who wish to make a thoughtful gesture of respect.

Those in the public eye should and indeed must wear the poppy as an example in a country where respect for those who made that supreme sacrifice is fast dwindling.

We need to be regularly reminded of how devastating was the First World War

Paul Callan

We need to be regularly reminded of how devastating was the First World War when in some cases almost every young male in a village did not return. And how many of those who did return from all those conflicts were shattered by what they had experienced and were never the same again?

MY GRANDFATHER, who was a young officer at Gallipoli in 1915, suffered from terrible nightmares for the rest of his life. He had seen so many of his friends and comrades die. (I still plant a small wooden cross decorated with a poppy on his behalf each year).

FIFA’S ban on our footballers having a poppy sewn on to their shirts is insensitive and callous and it should not interfere in national issues.

Celebrities, be they England football players or television presenters, should display their poppies with pride. Their highly-visible presence in the public eye should act as a shining example of respect for those who gave their lives in wars against tyranny.

Last year Channel 4 news presenter Jon Snow was roundly criticised for not wearing the symbolic emblem in the lead-up to remembrance Sunday. He even hit out at what he rather hysterically called “poppy fascism”.

I once worked with Jon on radio and always found him to be a sensitive, kindly man but he found it impossible to see that by not wearing a poppy he was dishonouring the war dead.

Too many people have lost that once well-instilled sense of respect for the sacrifices of the past. At its worst it results in the spate of thefts of metal lists on war memorials by those who do not have a shred of decency when it comes to revering the fallen.

In many cases the young are pathetically ignorant of why poppies are worn due to the failure of schools to teach history correctly. (Not to mention the political agendas of some teachers).

By wearing a poppy we remember the past and we display a much-needed respect for those who left their homes to die for their country on a faraway battlefield.

There are few things so disrespectful or ignorant as those people who cannot be bothered to wear a poppy in the days leading up to Remembrance Day.

The wearing of this eloquent and simple emblem shows not just that you honour the sacrifices made by generations who have gone before but that you support those in the armed forces today who are fighting to preserve our freedom.

But in recent years a new phenomenon has soured aspects of this important commemoration. It is represented not just by poppy mission-creep but by a type of poppy one-upmanship. Both are prominent among politicians but everybody in the public eye seems vulnerable to it.

The rule of thumb used to be that a poppy was worn from the beginning of November. recently this date has crept forwards. Now almost from the middle of October, politicians can be seen wearing poppies.

And it is not because they want to wear them for as long as possible. It is because they hope that a politician from one of the other parties will be found not wearing one.

Instead of dwelling soberly on our war dead there seems to be an ever more distracting game of “spot the person who has failed to wear a poppy”. It sometimes seems the most fervent wish of politicians is to find their opponents not wearing a poppy so that they can try to make political capital out of the fact.

In recent days Justice Secretary Ken Clarke was criticised for being seen without a poppy.

Who knows? Perhaps it was on another jacket. Perhaps it fell off. But I doubt it is a demonstration that Clarke hates our armed forces or does not care about the dead.

The BBC lives in such terror of exactly this type of row emerging over one of its guests appearing on air without a poppy that in the run-up to remembrance Sunday spare poppies are kept in reserve and pinned to the chest of poppy-less guests before they go on.

I believe any element of compulsion undermines this act of remembrance. Firstly because both charity and remembrance should be primarily private actions. Individuals can put as much as they can afford into the collection tin. And each should think seriously about what this represents.

But if someone forces a poppy on you – or persuades you to wear one for the show of it – then not only have you not made that act of private charity, you are wearing it for the wrong reasons. you are wearing it for yourself instead of for our heroes.

Finally it is worth recalling that it is when larger things are changing that people become most obsessed with symbols. It is no coincidence that poppy mission-creep has come about at the same time as politicians from all parties have let down our armed forces in numberless ways.

We wear poppies to commemorate the dead but all our politicians should remember that wearing them is not a displacement activity for improving the lot of the living.